


Eyes the Colour of Sample Spoons

by littlepinkbow



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Daydreaming, Ice Cream Parlors, M/M, Pining Harry, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-01-10
Packaged: 2018-03-02 14:23:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2815277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlepinkbow/pseuds/littlepinkbow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry works at an obscenely named ice cream shop.  It's not Louis' fault he eats his ice cream obscenely.  Or maybe he is, but he will never admit to it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyes the Colour of Sample Spoons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iwillpaintasongforlou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwillpaintasongforlou/gifts).



Being overly punctual had always been one of Harry’s best qualities. So when he talked his mum and dad into letting him move into his university apartment two months before university even started, no one was surprised. “I just want to make sure I know where everything is. How long it takes to get to my classes and stuff. Plus if I’m there before all the other students, I can get a job and stuff,” had been Harry’s consistent argument, and finally his parents had given in. 

A week after getting settled in his apartment and acquiring all of his textbooks, Harry had found a job at a small ice cream and sweets shop. Tucking his bright teal blue polo into his jeans, Harry pushed his curls off his forehead in order to put his new ‘Pickle Bob’s’ visor on before leaving his apartment for work. 

So far Harry had learned there were two advantages to working on campus during the summer, one being that there were hardly any customers and two being, that when they did have customers they were usually athletes stopping in after practice for a milkshake. He thought it was probably very counterproductive, spending endless hours in the gym and then heading in for sweets, but he definitely wasn’t going to complain about it either way. There were the rugby players, who although were a little rough around the edges, always had their shirts rolled tightly over their biceps and Harry appreciated that. Following the rugby players were the football players and Harry probably appreciated them more than anything, always managing to trip over his feet or drop ice cream when they were in the shop, causing him to silently curse himself. 

Today was going to be a football day it seemed, a small group of girls and boys from their respective teams making their way to the counter to place their orders. Harry carefully scooped the correct ice cream into the correct size bowls or cones attentively before finally looking up to meet the sharp blue eyes of the last person in the line. 

“What do you suggest here?” The boy who owned the sharp blue eyes asked, tapping his fingers gently on the glass as he glanced over the different types of ice cream. 

“Can’t really go wrong with mint chocolate chip, can you?” Harry replied slowly, his words catching on his tongue like hot fudge pouring over a sundae. “Could get you a bit to taste if you’d like,” He added with a shrug, reaching for one of the small taste test spoons and holding it up with a bit of a lopsided grin. 

“Reckon it all tastes about the same, innit? If you’ve tasted it from one place it’s like you’ve tasted it from all of them.” The other boy returned, turning his lips up into a smirk as he paused his hands, leaving them resting gently against the glass. 

“Oh, no. I can assure you, you’ve never tasted anything like ours,” Harry said, busying himself with getting a taste of the ice cream for the other boy, cheerfully holding it over the case to him, his tongue poking out over his canine tooth as he grinned. 

“Huh, I’ve never heard that before,” The other boy, who unbeknownst to Harry was called Louis. He popped the small spoon into his mouth, sucking the ice cream off before popping it out of his mouth with a smirk and nodding his head once, “Well then, Pickle Bob, that is the best ice cream I’ve tasted. I’ll have that, please. In one of those cones,” Louis said, lazily waving in the direction of the cones before making his way down the queue to pay for his ice cream. 

Harry blinked at the other boy before biting down on his bottom lip and carefully retrieving a cone, watching his steps to make sure he wouldn’t trip over something that wasn’t even there as he scooped the ice cream into Louis’ cone. When he was finished, he wrapped a napkin around the cone and held it over the glass case, “There you go, footie pro.” Harry said, his cheeks flushing slightly at how lame the nickname he tried to return to Louis was, but he gave him a shrug and a soft smile anyway. 

“Yeah, thanks.” Louis said with a smile, taking the cone and giving one long lick over the ice cream before nodding at Harry in approval, “Good choice, mate.” 

And with that, he was gone. Headed back out the door with his friends, not even sparing a second glance over his shoulder in Harry’s direction. Harry sighed, tucking his hands into the front pocket of his apron and deciding that maybe meeting a nice boy in the ice cream shop just wasn’t in the stars for him. 

The next time he saw Louis he came into the shop with a girl (turns out, it was his sister) and Harry was on the till end of the shop, and he quickly totalled up Louis’ purchases and took his money from him. “See you’ve changed your preference.” Harry said with a nod towards Louis’ ice cream, which was definitely not mint chocolate chip and definitely not in a bowl; not that he remembered what Louis got anyway. 

“Gotta keep ya guessing,” is all Louis had replied with; that and a grin as he tucked his change into his pocket and took his ice cream, and the girl he was with to sit at one of the tables across the shop. 

Maybe this was the part that Harry hated about the shop not being busy. It gave him a chance to sit back and watch the boy across the shop, his eyes focused on Louis’ hands and mouth as he ate. 

Louis had pretty much known from the moment he walked into the shop that Harry was at least a little into boys, the way his smile turned up a little extra and the way his cheeks flushed pink as some of the guys comments. If he was honest, he thought it was a little endearing the way Harry tripped over his feet, blushed over everything and he was planning to see just how much worse he could make it. Scooping a bit of his ice cream onto his spoon, Louis sucked the spoon into his mouth, twisting it around in his mouth and tightening his lips around the spoon before pulling it out of his mouth with a small pop sound. He just barely flicked his eyes over to see what Harry was doing and of course, Harry was staring right back at him. 

Harry couldn’t keep his eyes off of Louis, a quiet almost whimper leaving his lips at Louis’ behavior and okay, he definitely didn’t need to get hard while working. Or maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it was nearing his break time and that thought brought a bright flush to Harry’s cheeks. 

Louis quickly looked out the window to hide his grin, not wanting Harry to know that he knew exactly what he was doing or that he was doing it on purpose. When he turned back, out of the corner of the eye he could see Harry still watching him, still focused on exactly what Louis was doing. When Louis put his spoon up to his mouth again, he flicked his tongue out over the back of the spoon, licking over it before flipping it over and putting it into his mouth. Sucking the ice cream off the spoon and swallowing, he pulled the spoon from his mouth, licking over his lips and sticking the spoon back into the ice cream. When Louis looked over in Harry’s direction, it was to see Harry’s back as he was quickly escaping into the back room. 

 

Harry took a deep breath before deciding he couldn’t sit here and watch Louis eat his ice cream anymore. He was certain no one did anything that obscenely by accident, but he hardly knew Louis and he couldn’t imagine why someone so attractive would be doing something like that in his direction. Swallowing hard, Harry stepped right into the walk in freezer pulling his visor off his head and pushing his fingers through his curls. Work shouldn’t be so stressful, it shouldn’t leave Harry standing in a walk in freezer to cool himself off. 

The day before classes started was the last time Harry had seen Louis, it had been Sunday night around 7 PM when he came in. 

“I’m not sure what I want today, Bob,” Louis said across the counter to Harry, tapping his fingers against the glass of the ice cream case and looking around at the empty shop, a small smirk on his lips. “Maybe you could just give me samples?” He put on his most charming smile and leaned up onto his toes to look down into the ice cream case. 

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Harry said with a shrug. He wasn’t annoyed with Louis -- maybe enamored, but Louis’ constant returning to the shop and eating “innocently” was driving Harry wild. Louis’ tongue and bum (not that it had anything to do with his ice cream eating habits) were the stuff that Harry’s dreams were made of. Reaching across the counter he retrieved the bowl of sample ice cream spoons with nothing less than an almost annoyed exhale. 

“Having a bad day then?” Louis asked curiously, raising an eyebrow as he looked over the counter at Harry. “I really would like to try the cotton candy, please. And pistachio. Do you think those would taste good one after the other or no? Maybe I should have a sample of vanilla ice cream in between.” Louis confirmed with a nod.  
Harry wasn’t sure why he was so irritated or maybe he wasn’t even irritated, he was just exhausted but he really wasn’t in the mood for Louis today. “Sure, whatever you want, mate.” He said, pushing the tops of the cases open and and retrieving the three samples, holding them over one at a time to Louis. 

Louis took each one, hollowing his cheeks out as he sucked the small bit of ice cream off the spoon and letting out a noise that had to be described as a moan with each sample. “Oh, that pistachio is so good. I would like that,” He said softly, nodding his head and dumping all three of the mini spoons into the miniature trashcan sitting on the counter. “In a bowl please, to go.” He said with a nod. 

“Sure thing, mate.” Harry said, rolling his eyes slightly as he started to fill a cup with the ice cream from Louis. To add insult to injury, not only was he annoyed with the gorgeous boy, but he was still left half-hard and dissatisfied from the whole experience. 

It was Tuesday evening at 6:50 PM. Harry wasn’t sure why he had signed up for a once a week class, from 7 until 9:45 PM except that maybe it sounded nice to have a class that was only once a week. ‘Introduction to Public Speaking and Communication’ seemed like a class you’d really only want to go to once a week anyway. Settling down into his seat, Harry kept his headphones tucked into his ears and his eyes on his phone, because he was absolutely determined to beat the next level of Candy Crush before class started. 

Louis chose his classes by what impacted his footie playing time least and late night classes were perfect for that. Pulling his hood down from his head he walked into the room, his fingers curled around the strap of his messenger bag and he stopped in his tracks, another student nearly running right into the back of him. He was certain that he had seen the boy sitting at the desk in the middle of the room before, but, at the same time, he was sure that it wasn’t the almost-dorky boy from the ice cream shop. 

It couldn’t be. This boy’s curls fell down over his face, his eyebrows were knitted together and his hooded sweatshirt was paired with a wide scarf all bundled up around his neck. “Bob?” Louis asked stupidly to the room, clearing his throat a little. 

Harry hadn’t even looked up from his phone until he had run out of lives and he was greeted by the ice-cream-shop-boy staring at him like he had fifteen heads. “Can I help you mate?” Harry asked nonchalantly as he pulled his headphones from his ear, piling them on top of his phone on the desk. 

Louis’ jaw was dropped and he shook his head and this was really really a good start to a public speaking class. “All good, aren’t I?” Louis said, stumbling over his words and his feet in an effort to find a seat, the seat right next to Harry. 

Harry rolled his eyes slightly and looked back at his phone and now not only did he have to have deal with a late night class, he also had to deal with the most inappropriate guy he had ever met in his life sitting right next to him. 

When the class began, Harry kept his head rested in his left hand, his right hand lazily taking notes and his focus entirely on the teacher and definitely not on Louis at all. Even when he could feel the other boy looking over at him. 

“We are going to do one little exercise, or should we call it an ice breaker before we leave tonight.” The professor spoke from the front of the room. “I want everyone to join up with someone and take about 15 minutes to talk to each other. Learn about each other. And then we will take turns going through the class and you will come to the front of the room and tell us about the person you’ve spoken with. Almost like you’re advertising them for a date.” She explained with a smile, “So pair up and get talking.” 

“Be my partner,” Louis said in Harry’s direction, reaching over and tapping his fingers against the other boy’s desk while he waited for him to look back. 

“Sure.” Harry said, giving a slight shrug and glancing over in Louis’ direction. He was slightly less irritated with Louis because after everything, Louis had at least made a little bit of a fool of himself. 

Once both boys adjusted their chairs so they were facing one another, Harry looked up from his notepad and decided to start the conversation with something simple, but definitely required, “My names Harry. Not Bob. Or whatever else you think it’s endearing to call me.” He said, his voice slow and rich like molasses pouring from a jar. 

“I knew that, didn’t I? You had the nametag.” Louis said, pointing up to his lapel, where yeah, Harry had been wearing a nametag every time Louis came in. “I’m Louis, anyway.” He said with a nod, picking his pen up and tapping it against the desk. “Sell me on a date with you.” He said, his lips twisting up into a crooked grin. 

Harry looked almost amused as he looked at Louis, thinking for a moment before speaking softly. “Where do cows go on dates?” He asked, waiting just a beat of a moment before finishing his joke, “To the mooooovies!” Harry’s lips parted into a grin that was met his dimples, his smile dissolving into a warm, loud laugh. 

Louis blinked slowly just barely smiling at Harry, not believing that was really Harry’s idea of selling someone on a date with him. He tipped his head to the side, watching as Harry covered his mouth, his laugh, his smile and shook his head. “Was that meant to convince me?” He asked, scrunching his nose up just a bit. 

“What did one flag say to the other? Nothing, it waved!” Harry replied to Louis, clapping his hands together with the punchline of his joke and falling into a fit of laughter again. Once his laughter had calmed down, he widened his eyes and looked at Louis before asking slowly, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” 

“Harry, I really don’t think-” Louis started but was quickly interrupted.

“Just, answer. Why did the chicken cross the road?” 

“To get to the other side.” 

“No. To get to the nerds house. Knock knock.” 

“Who’s there?” 

“The chicken!” 

Louis laughed out of almost disbelief. In a matter of several minutes Harry had told Louis more terrible jokes than he had ever heard in his entire life. Yet, here he was, wanting to take Harry on a date. So, that was how he advertised himself to get dates. 

“Alright, alright. Let’s make our way around the room. When we get to you, both people in your pair come up to the front and you can sell the class on your partner.” The teacher interrupted everyone’s discussion and just after everyone moved their desks back to where they belonged. 

As the pairs of students stepped to the front of the room, the descriptions were all similar -- age, astrological sign, interests, favourite foods and all the normal things you’d expect to be interested in about a person you hadn’t ever met.

When Harry and Louis made their way to the front of the room, they glanced at each other and Louis stepped forward to speak first. 

“Um, this is Harry. And he works in an ice cream shop on campus called Pickle Bob’s. He’s alright because he knows a lot about the different flavours of ice cream and he tells jokes worse than my little twin sisters,” Louis stumbled over his words, tugging of the cuffs of his jumper as he spoke and looking everywhere but at the other students in the room. “I’m sure that he has a birthday and other interests and stuff, but, I didn’t really figure any of those out yet, so.” He shrugged, looking down at his feet and then glancing over at Harry before mumbling, “It’s your turn,” and rubbing his hands over his now pink cheeks. 

Harry smiled as he listened to Louis and when it was his turn to speak he stepped forward and cleared his throat, his words just as warm and slow as they always were, “This is Louis. I believe he plays footie. Seems like he should be in good shape but he’s got quite the ice cream habit. The way to his heart is through chocolate chip cookie dough or pistachio ice cream and he’s got an affinity for using little tiny sample spoons obscenely. The best part about him though, as I’m sure all of you can see is his eyes and they are the colour of his favourite sample spoons.” Harry paused, glancing over at Louis who was staring at him mouth agape (and really, even that was a good look for him) “But also his eyes always seem happy even when he looks tired and they’re the kind of eyes that make it seem like he really cares. By my calculations, he’s pretty alright, as well.” Harry finished, clicking his tongue over the roof of his mouth and then looking at their teacher and then chancing a glance at Louis. 

Louis’ cheeks were flushed red and he stuck his tongue out at Harry before heading back to his desk and taking his seat. 

Harry followed behind, sitting in his own seat and twisting his hands together, his focus falling back on the teacher although he could still feel Louis’ gaze on him. 

Louis couldn’t keep his eyes off Harry and in that moment he confirmed that it was definitely worth the chiding from his mum about spending all of his money at the ice cream shop.

**Author's Note:**

> This was for the prompt "Harry works in an ice cream shop on campus and Louis is a patron who comes in all the time and eats ice cream really sexually and always gets Harry accidentally hard. The semester starts and oh god Louis is in his class." 
> 
> Hope you like it - I sort of branched off a little and made Harry a bit more confident in the class, but I just sort of let it flow! xx


End file.
